Category Archives: quotes

During a Livestream Q/A, Rob Bell is asked to comment on the negativity christians demonstrate toward the gay community. Bell’s answer is simply predictable.

Below is an excerpt of the Q/A posted over at Apprising Ministries. But even better, click on the Apprising site below and scroll down to the video so you can to actually watch Rob Bell respond to the question in his own words. His body language is quite interesting.

Please notice Bell never compassionately shares the gospel in any shape,form or fashion. He remains absolutely silent about Christ salvific work that provides grace based repentance unto redemptive life transformation.

Nope, Ole Bell just can’t manage to articulate anything of biblical revelation as the answer to fallen man’s human condition.

To that I say,”Anathema!”

rgh

Man in audience: On a more serious note. You’re here in West Hollywood.

Bell: Yes.

Man: [Kind of] the epicenter center of the gay community in southern California.

Bell: Yes. Yeah.

Man: A lot of the words that Christians have for us have been very negative.

Bell: Yeah.

Man: What do you think about that?

Bell: Yeah. Thank you for asking that. We’re here in West Hollywood, epicenter of a lot of gay culture and you’re asking—some people are gay (pause) and you’re our brothers and you’re our sisters, and we love you.

We love you. (audience applauds) And it’s really, really, really, important that we’re clear. I had a good friend—when I was in my teens—who was gay. And hadn’t told anybody. An’ I was the first person he told.

And (pause) probably the most loving, generous, holy—one of the most—he was extraordinary, is extraordinary. But at an early age I was like, some people are gay; an’ God loves them just like God loves me.

And they’re passionate disciples of Jesus, just like I’m trying to be. So, let’s all get together and try to do something about the truly big problems in our world; that I believe Jesus would us to band together, and tackle together.

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For many years , an Australian nurse has given hospice care to dying patients during the final stages of their lives.

Over the 12 weeks, Bonnie Ware says she witnessed patients gaining phenomenal clarity as death approached.

Patients were asked if they would do things differently or if they had regrets.Five commonalities continually surfaced:

1. “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”Bonnie notes that most people felt they wasted their healthy youths, and were remorseful for not taking advantage of the things they were able to do.

2. “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.” Ware says she heard this from every male patient she nursed.

3. “ I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.” Patients became ill from anger they had from unexpressed feelings. Many had suppressed these emotions in order to keep peace with others. This resulted in illnesses related to bitterness and resentment.

4. “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.” Many patients regretted losing touch with good friends, who they were unable to track down and contact in their final days.Everyone misses friends when they are dying.

5. “I wish that I had let myself be happier.” Many failed to realize that being happy was their choice.They chose to remain stuck in old patterns and habits.

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It is often said,”You can judge the character of a man by his friends.” How true that is. But there is balancing side to that quote. You can also judge the courage of a man by the quality of the enemies he makes.

Seem farfetched? Simply consider the life of Christ. He was fiercely hated by the Pharisees, Sadducees,and the Scribes. All of whom were religious leaders of his day.

It was Jesus himself who said to his followers,” if they have hated me, they will also hate you.”

Amazing!! The more we act and speak like Christ, the more religious enemies will show themselves.

With that promise in mind, here are some awesome quotes that I personally subscribe to:

* I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made………………………………………………………………… [Franklin D. Roosevelt]

* You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends………………………………………………………..[Joseph Conrad]

* A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household……………………………………………………..[Jesus Christ]

* So have I now become your enemy for telling you the truth?…………………………………………………….[Apostle Paul]

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Ambiguity wrapped in pseudo humility is the new “preaching” virtue. Moral clarity,passionate certitude and propositional truth are christianly out of vogue. The doctrine of “sacramental personality” has so permeated the church, ministers intentionally avoid the evidentiary nature of speaking from the source of Holy Spirit power accompanied by deep conviction. [1 thess 1:5]

Teampyro nailed it back in ’09 and this video I saw over at Resurgence puts it in perspective for today!

rgh

“The visible church is overrun with bad preachers and weak-willed people who are convinced that the very epitome of humility is never to state anything with too much conviction.”

“Everything nowadays is supposed to be carefully qualified with lots of ambiguous expressions and weasel-words like ‘perhaps,’ or ‘possibly,’ or ‘It seems to me . . . ’ or ‘maybe.’ Everything (including the gospel itself) gets prefaced with, ‘I could be wrong, but to the bestof my knowledge this seems reasonable—although I know other people see it differently, so I don’t want to be dogmatic.’”

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“SBC Voices” tells it like it is! Realism vs Idealism. My own soul resounded with a hearty AMEN!Ministerial vocation isn’t for sissies, the weak of heart or the uncharactered.

rgh

“The blessings of ministry far outweigh the realities below; however, ministry is definitely not easy…If you enter pastoral ministry…”

10… Not everyone will like you.9…You will make people angry regardless how godly you handle yourself; it comes with the position. 8…You will feel like a failure often; and when you do appear to succeed, the fruit that is produced cannot be accredited to you. God alone gives the increase. Thus, there is little “sense of accomplishment in ministry” that you may be accustomed to in other vocations.7…You will fight legalism and liberalism, along with laziness, ignorance, tradition, and opposition.6…Not everyone will respond positively to your preaching, teaching, or leadership. You will bring people to tears with the same sermon: one in joy, another in anger (I have done this).5… You will be criticized, rarely to your face, and frequently behind your back. This criticism will come from those that appear to love you, those that obviously do not like you, and pastors and Christians that barely know you.4…You will think about quitting yearly or monthly, if not weekly or even daily.3…You will be persecuted for preaching the truth, mostly from your brothers and sisters in the pews.2…You will feel very lonely on a consistent basis, feeling like no one truly knows you or cares how you feel, because you do not want to burden your family, and trust-worthy peers are few and far in-between. Because of the “super-Christian” myth accredited to pastors literally, you will find it extremely difficult to disclose your deep thoughts and feelings to others. Thus, you will struggle with loneliness.1…You will probably pastor a church that is barely growing (if at all), is opposed to change, doesn’t pay well, has seen pastors come and go, doesn’t respect the position as biblically as they should, doesn’t understand what the Bible says a pastor’s or a church’s jobs are, andwill only follow you when they agree with you (thus, they’ll really only followthemselves).

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Dr Al Mohler cogently articulates what is at stake in his masterful response to Brian McClarens “to weak for the task” attempt to defend Rob Bell. The contrast is clear according to Mohlers polemic. This isn’t a third tier gray area. Somebody stands under the Pauline anathema for preaching a “counterfeit gospel”. Finally!

Mohlers summary:

“We are talking about two rival understandings of the Gospel here — two very different understandings of theology, Gospel, Bible, doctrine, and the totality of the Christian faith. Both sides in this controversy understand what is at stake.”

Mark Dever makes the point that a healthy church is marked by a biblical understanding of conversion. He quotes the 1833 New Hampshire confession of faith to define repentance as a grace-based sacred duty . It is robust, precise, and very powerful!

rgh

“We believe that Repentance and Faith are sacred duties, and also inseparable graces, wrought in our souls by the regenerating Spirit of God; whereby, being deeply convinced of our guilt, danger, and helplessness, and of the way of salvation by Christ, we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy;at the same time heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King, and relying on him alone as the only and all-sufficient Saviour.”

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About Richard Hanner

The husband of Regina, the father of Amanda, the grandfather of Andrew, Anna and Aaron, a church planter who now has the honor of serving some of the Kingdom’s finest Christ Followers in LaGrange, Georgia. [more]

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Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.